Vehicles known in this respect are two and multi-axeled vehicles such as, for example, armored personnel vehicles and the like.
These vehicles have in their chassis, as a rule, a flat underbody with ground clearance between the underbody and the ground that is as high as possible, and that is secured by correspondingly designed gear or chain drive works. In this way, the vehicle can move forward in a relatively unhindered manner as possible, even in cross country terrain. Unfortunately, the explosive pressure effect of a mine exploding under these vehicles acts on the relatively large surface area of the vehicle or floor pan, thereby deforming and damaging the same. Thus, the explosive pressure effect of the mine can cause significant damage to the vehicle and its occupants.
It is known from the disclosure of German Document DE 31 19 786 A1 to protect against mines by positioning flat armor elements on the underside of the vehicle.
In German Document DE 196 31 715 C2, a vehicle protection system against landmines is described that provides a vehicle floor with a wedge or V-shaped design reflector, wherein in the free volume between the deflector and the underside of the vehicle a fillable gas sack can be positioned for support from the inside of the reflector. The fillable gas sack provides a counter action against an explosion, thereby providing the vehicle with additional protection against landmines.
In German Document DE 196 53 283 C1, an armoured fighting vehicle crew compartment is described wherein a space cell is separately, elastically hung as a crew space in the vehicle housing in order to overcome the shock effects from explosions that act on the vehicle from outside. In this way, the elastically hung crew space provides protection for the personnel in the vehicle.
Unpublished German Document DE 102 59 918.1, which corresponds to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/739,947 to Grosch, describes providing a mine protection device, particularly for wheeled vehicles, in which a detection signal from an ignition and calculation unit is sent out in response to a detected shock wave/percussion wave or blast wave. The ignition and calculation unit is connected to a pyrotechnical separation element, and the sending of the detection signal to the pyrotechnical separation element leads to the separation of a wheel construction group, or just the wheel, from the vehicle structure. The pyrotechnic separation of the support structure can take place using a cutting charge, or a suitable design of a separation point with pyrotechnic separation screws can be used.
A vehicle for traveling through hostile environments is described in WO 02/47958 A2 in which a hydraulically driven motor is provided on each of the wheels. Thus, when a shock wave leads into a wheel, following detonation of an overrun mine, in the worst case the explosion results in the separation of the wheel from the vehicle. However, residual mobility is achieved because the other wheels each have an individual drive and continue to operate to move the vehicle.
An armored vehicle built from individual single segments is described in German Document DE 102 33274 A1. The armored vehicle is comprised of two segments, (i) a driving segment and (ii) a mission segment, and electrical drive motors are present in the wheel hubs of both segments. In the rear mission segment, batteries for supplying the drive motors are disposed.
It is an object of the present invention to construct a mine protection system that preserves residual mobility for the vehicle when the vehicle experiences a defect (i.e., structural damage) caused by the detonation of a run-over mine, or the like. It is another object of the present invention to provide both protection for the effects of landmine explosion and residual mobility to a residual portion of a damaged vehicle while overcoming the limitations of the prior art military vehicles.